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NJC raises concern over agreements, MoUs with India in letter to President
View(s):The National Joint Committee (NJC) has expressed concern regarding the recent agreements reached between Sri Lanka and India and pointed out that they affect the nation’s autonomy and long-term interests.
In a letter addressed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake NJC president Lieutenant General Jagath Dias (Retd) has provided the historical context of what they called Indian interference during Sri Lanka’s post-independence history.
The NJC has called on the President to ensure transparency by immediately disclosing to Parliament and the public all MoUs and agreements signed with India and to safeguard the country’s sovereignty by reassessing and, where necessary, renegotiating any agreements that compromise Sri Lanka’s political, economic, and military independence.
The NJC also called to uphold the spirit of non-alignment by maintaining balanced relations with global allies rather than being tethered to one power bloc and protect the people by ensuring that the economic agreements do not displace Sri Lankan workers, farmers, or small businesses and that the constitutional commitments to the Buddha Sasana are honored.
“Your leadership at this critical time will determine whether Sri Lanka remains a free, sovereign nation or slips into dependency under foreign control. We implore you to act decisively,” the letter pointed out.
The NJC said the historical context of Indian interference Sri Lanka’s post-independence history is replete with grave examples that have undermined the country’s sovereignty.
India’s direct involvement in training, arming, and funding Tamil militant groups in the 1980s, notably the LTTE, sparked a conflict that lasted over 30 years and cost over 100,000 lives while the unauthorised Indian air-drop “Operation Poomalai” in 1987 breached the country’s airspace and sovereignty, setting a dangerous precedent.
The NJC said that India intervened in May 1987 to prevent the Sri Lankan military from capturing LTTE leader Prabhakaran by frisking and flying him to India and this action that could have ended the terror in May 1987, took 22 more years to end in May 2009.
The NJC also pointed out that the imposition of the Indo-Lanka Accord (1987) and India’s subsequent failure to uphold five specific commitments made within it, including the disarmament of Tamil militants, were other instances. As per international law, the failure to fulfill treaty obligations automatically invalidates the treaty.
The NJC noted that several MoUs with India have reportedly been signed without any Parliamentary debate or public disclosure, violating democratic norms and constitutional accountability while the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) that proposes liberalisation of trade in services threatens to open Sri Lanka’s job market to Indian nationals, leading to demographic changes and erosion of local livelihoods.
It also pointed out economic overdependence and strategic vulnerabilities where India’s creeping control over Sri Lanka’s core sectors risk turning Sri Lanka into an Indian satellite state.
The Indian control of LNG supply, renewable energy projects, the Trincomalee oil tank farm, and joint ventures in ports and railways grants India leverage in critical areas, the push for Sri Lanka to accept Indian Rupee trade and loans gives India outsised monetary influence over Sri Lanka’s economy, India’s conditional credit lines requiring the purchase of Indian goods restrict Sri Lanka’s economic freedom and diversity have been pointed out as other examples of Indian dominance over Sri Lanka.
“ Indian firms are embedding themselves into Sri Lanka’s financial tech, surveillance, and digital governance sectors, giving India access to strategic data and long-term control over digital infrastructure. This poses a grave threat to national security and data sovereignty, the NJC pointed out.
Referfing to what it called Cultural Encroachment the NJC pointed out India’s funding of kovils and promotion of “mythological Ramayana trails” undermines Sri Lanka’s Buddhist heritage and Article 9 of the Constitution protecting the Buddha Sasana.
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